Bamon: Borrowed Time
by averygirl
Summary: Bonnie and Damon, of course, in a re-imagining of Season 6. Enjoy! (Rated M for future content.)


**Borrowed Time**

_**This is a Bamon fic. I was planning to use this very storyline for Tyler and Bonnie but it works so much better for **__**Damon **__**and Bonnie. Plus, I just can't write "Dullena" in a sympathetic light so I have to scrap the other story. On the off chance you were reading that one, I am sorry to say that I am not going to finish it, but I do hope you'll enjoy this. I could see Tonnie being good friends in this though… maybe even making Damon a bit jealous? Hmm…**_

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

"I don't know how you did it, Bon-Bon, but I'm just glad you did," Damon crowed as they zipped along the street side by side. The street_ teaming_ with people, alight with _life._ They were back! They were _home_ in Mystic Falls – more importantly, _modern_ _day_ Mystic Falls. Oh, thank god. She would just worry about the consequences another time. For now all she needed was her friends. Her friends and Jeremy. Damn, she had missed that man…

"We're free," Bonnie agreed. "Let's just be appreciative of that." Her eyes swept her shoes for the briefest of moments and then she looked up at him. "Now can we just get home to the people we love?"

"That's what I'm trying to do…. I don't think I could have spent another moment alone with you without going completely batshit," Damon said. She rolled her eyes and he nudged her arm with his elbow. "But –"

"But, what?"

"Thanks. For whatever the hell you did. Whatever spell you cast that got us out of that hell."

Bonnie's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait a second - did Damon Salvatore just thank me for something?"

Damon sighed. "Don't make me say it again."

Bonnie just shook her head. "Whatever." Her eyes canvassed Main Street as they jostled through a throng of people congregating on the sidewalk.

"Move it, move it," Damon snapped at people. "What the hell – is there a sale at the Tee-shirt Barn or something? What's with all of these people standing around?"

"It's always this busy at noonday," Bonnie said sagely. "It just seems worse right now because we're in such a hurry."

"Well don't mind if I maul down a few people." Damon immediately shoved aside a big, burly man in his path. The man growled and went to take a swing at his head. Damon caught his fist, growling back, _"Walk away, Paul Bunyan. Just walk away."_ The man dutifully turned and hurried down the street.

"Well, well. What do you know – my vampire-y powers have returned," Damon said.

"Great, now you can go bully a few more people," Bonnie said facetiously. She rolled her eyes at him as they kept hustling forward. Just as they were about to step off the curb to avoid more foot traffic, Damon pointed to their right.

"Hey, is that-" He shook his head. "Never mind."

"No, Damon, not never mind. Who did you see?" Bonnie asked, excited flutters filling her stomach. "Was it one of our friends?"

"No, no. It was just a mirage. You know it's really hot out here …"

Bonnie crossed her arms and pulled Damon to a forceful stop. "Who'd you see?"

_"Elvis?"_

"Damon, was it Elena?" Bonnie asked hopefully. Then she shook her head. "No, it wouldn't be her or you'd have knocked me down already to get to her."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Does it matter?"

"Fine, I'll find out myself," Bonnie said and stepped determinedly off the sidewalk. She crossed the street as Damon called after her. A small bar was situated at the corner of Main Street. _Henry's,_ it was called and it sat right in the area Damon had pointed to. She might have been to Henry's once, she thought vaguely – once in what seemed like another lifetime. So much had changed but still, some things never would.

She reached the door of Henry's and paused for a moment. Why did she suddenly have this uncomfortable tingling sensation going up her back – like if she went inside, she was going to see something she wished with all her heart that she could unsee?

She forced herself to straighten her shoulders though and walk determinedly through the door. Damon came crashing in after her. "Damon_, what?"_ She asked, as he tugged her to a stop. "What's your deal?"

Damon kept his hand firmly planted on her arm. "Do you really think you should be hitting the bottle before lunchtime?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Is that the best excuse you've got?" She said. "There's something – or someone – here that you really don't want me to see and –" She broke off as she suddenly spotted Jeremy sitting at one of the corner booths. His back was to her and though his hair was longer and unkempt, she'd recognize those shoulders anywhere. For a moment she couldn't move; she couldn't speak. She just needed to look at him. Jeremy, _her _Jeremy. He was here. Until this moment, she had feared that this was all a dream but seeing him now; she knew it was real.

"_Jeremy,"_ she finally managed to choke out. She broke free of Damon's taut grasp and surged forward. She rushed for the corner booth and went to throw her arms around Jeremy when she realized – or rather, _saw_ – the reason Damon had been acting like such a cockblocker.

_Jeremy wasn't alone._ Not at all. None other than Liv Parker sat beside him. Or more like, _on_ him, moving her lips along the taut column of his throat.

Bonnie stumbled back a bit in surprise. Damon was the one to catch her surprisingly and she resented it somehow. She wasn't some delicate flower who needed saving. Forcing herself upright, she sighed as Jeremy suddenly spotted them standing there. His eyes went impossibly wide and she really wanted to melt into the floor boards at that moment.

"_Bonnie?"_

Bonnie nodded. "Yeah, Jeremy, it's me," she said.

"You're back?" His voice was disbelieving, as if he couldn't quite contemplate it. His voice became hushed as he looked at her. "I'm not –"

"You're not crazy," Bonnie said. No, she was the crazy one to think Jeremy would actually sit around and wait for her. She didn't even blame him really. He had thought that she was dead, that she wasn't coming back – hell, there had been times when she had believed the very same thing– but it still hurt. No, it stung. _No,_ seeing Jeremy with someone else _cut like a bitch!_

Bonnie stood there for a moment, frozen in a state of inertia as if she was witnessing a train crash in progress. Liv finally ripped her lips from Jeremy's neck. She gave Bonnie a cursory look but said nothing. Bonnie felt incredibly awkward and like she could burst into pathetic tears at any moment. She finally turned on her heel and started back towards the door.

She heard a scuffle behind her. _"Dammit, Damon, get out of the way!"_ Jeremy hollered.

"_No, I think you've upset her enough for one day,"_ Damon hollered back. Bonnie couldn't help it – she looked back. She couldn't believe it but Damon's arm was across Jeremy's throat, blocking him from moving - damn near crushing his windpipe. Liv was at his side instantly, uselessly trying to help free Jeremy from the vampire's killer grasp.

Bonnie sighed and voice trembling a bit, she said, "Damon, let him go."

Damon looked back at her in shock. "Excuse me? You don't actually want to talk to this manwhore? I mean, we've been gone for what - a few months time - and he's already crawled into Liv Parker's slimy panties?"

"Hey!" Liv snapped. "You asshole! Take that back!"

Damon bit out, "Just try to make me."

Bonnie growled at Damon, "Let Jeremy go. Right now!" She saw him struggling to get free, noted the way his face had turned scarlet red and he was sputtering around the pressure of Damon's grip on his throat.

"_Damon!"_ Bonnie shouted and he finally relaxed his grip on Jeremy. Jeremy nearly toppled backwards, grabbing for his throat and coughing hard. Bonnie was going to ask him if he was okay but Liv was already doing that very thing.

Bonnie suddenly realized that everyone in the smoky bar was staring at her, seeming to wait with bated breath to see what she would do next.

So she just walked outside.

To her dismay, it was Damon who followed her out first. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Damon immediately snapped at her.

She whirled around to face him. "Excuse you! What the hell is wrong with me? _Me,_ Damon? You just about suffocated a man and you're asking me what's wrong with me!"

"Suffocated? Hardly, Bonnie," he said in a low voice. "And would it have been so bad I had?"

"Yes!" Bonnie exclaimed. "Yes, of course."

"He betrayed you. He couldn't even wait a few months before sticking his Little Jeremy in-"

She threw up a hand to stop him_. "Stop it!_ Okay, I don't need a visual. I feel sick enough already."

Jeremy came rushing out of Henry's then. He made a beeline for Bonnie and she sighed, trying to steel herself from more heartache. Jeremy looked at Damon angrily and then turned back to Bonnie, a much softer expression on his face now.

"We need to talk, Bonnie," he said.

"Oh really, Jer?" Damon interjected. "What is there to talk about? You don't actually think Bonnie here is going to forgive you for dicking around on her?"

"You don't _actually_ think it's any of your business," Jeremy returned.

Damon looked ready to charge Jeremy once more but Bonnie stepped between them. She looked at Damon pointedly. "Damon, I need to talk to Jeremy - _alone."_

"You're kidding."

"No, just… Just go," Bonnie said. "Go home. Go see Elena; hug her tight. That's what you've wanted all of this time."

Damon's blue eyes turned icy and he glared at her. "Fine, have it your way. Keep being a doormat for this son of a bitch!" He then turned on his heel and stalked off. Bonnie watched his retreating back for a moment, unsure of what had just happened.

She felt so out of sorts – dazed really, uncomprehending. She had dreamt of coming home to Jeremy so many times; she had dreamt of a happy, lusty reunion, and now it couldn't be. Instead Damon Salvatore, her worst enemy for the longest time, was the one fighting her battles. It was all so confusing.

_Her dream had certainly turned into a nightmare._


End file.
